The Vention Multi-function USB-C 9-in-1 is compound device with HDMI output over USB3.0 and USB 2.0 hub and ETHERNET. I have used it with FullHD monitor, keyboard, mouse and ETHERNET on Librem 5. I have not tested/needed card reader and audio. There is list of USB devices which appear when it is connected to the GNU/Linux computer
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 2109:2815 VIA Labs, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 011: ID 1a40:0801 Terminus Technology Inc.
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 2109:0815 VIA Labs, Inc.
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0bda:8153 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8153 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Please tell us if you see 9636|ALGOLTEK, INC. line (easily should be present one, related to AG9321MCQ) over there? Thanks for the already given update!
It is somehow important to me that you understand that every charging negotiation above 0.47A is positive charging negotiation (in context here related and IMHO), if and when accepted from the Librem 5, as otherwise there will be almost no charging happening (with or without screen on, although red LED light on) and Librem 5 will discharge its battery in approximately 1:1 time-frame (ratio), while and when Librem 5 in usage, when connected as host to some docking station and, for example, if it consumes 0.9A (4.5W) in average during certain time/application in usage we are able to count that when connected power supply provides improperly negotiated 0.47A and BPP-L503 battery still discharges (although with PD pass-through port connected, yet provided current, related to 5V, settled down to 0.47A) at rate of 0.45A. Only when docking station provides ample current of more than 1.5A (related post battery was already at 81%, and in its uprising capacity stage toward 100%).
As above and therefore, @Hristo, I’ve just send you PM on which power supply you can get directly in/from Berlin (as worth to be tested from your side).
Meanwhile i got my librem 5 usa and the following stuff:
The good news is the docking station works in terms of i managed to connect the librem 5 to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
The bad news however:
1.The charging does not work through the docking station using this charger:
Do i have to configure something?
Why is it not working? if i connect the charger directly to the librem 5 it works.
2.The active usb-c extension cable is straight up not working.
I connected it between the librem 5 and docking station. Nothing.
I also tried to connect it between the librem 5 and charger and it’s also not working.
Is the cable maybe defective or what do i have to look out for when buying an extension? (Which i need)
Why? Would it be possible to extend the outputs of the dock, rather than extending the USB-C? Obviously we don’t have a full picture of your setup.
The USB-C between dock and phone is performing 3 roles
video
power (specifically PD)
data
Maybe confirm with the seller of the USB-C extension that it purports to support all 3 roles, and all 3 roles simultaneously.
Does the extension cable work in any scenario? e.g. just a computer connected to a keyboard? or e.g. a computer connected to a USB-C peripheral that supplies its own power? or e.g. a computer connected to a USB-C monitor (directly or indirectly)?
If I had to take a guess, as the extension cable appears to have no external power source, it probably doesn’t handle the “power” side of USB-C adequately but may handle data and may handle video.
The thing about USB-C is that it negotiates what to use.
So if I am not mistaken, you have:
Negotiation between Librem 5 and the docking station.
Negotiation between the docking station and the power supply.
And the used cables between can also influence the results of the negotiations.
Librem 5 always negotiates 5V between itself and the docking station. The maximum is 5V 3A. I have seen 5V 3A, 5V 2A, 5V 1,5A, 5V 0,5A and 5V 0,1A depending on docking station, power supply and used cables.
Your setup only makes sense in my opinion when you reach at least the 5V 1,5A negotiation because with the 0,5A your battery will discharge when you use Librem 5 in convergence mode.
So Librem 5 will never get 20V regardless of what is written on your docking station.
First cornerstone is the controller of the docking station that is used for negotiating the connection between Librem 5 and the docking station. As far as I understand this controller will not only matter for the quality of power supply, but also for the quality of your video signal to your external monitor. So it is important to be high quality.
Second cornerstone is the power supply. Interestingly both me and Quarnero got good results with a more “stupid” power supply. Since yesterday I use an old Samsung phone charger 5V 2A USB-A to USB-C and I get 5V 2A negotiated to the Librem 5.
The more “intelligent” power supplies did not work for me for any of the small docking hubs as the one you use.
I tested one big expensive Lenovo notebook docking station and it was the only one that managed to make a chain 5V 3A to Librem 5 and 20V 5A between the docking station and the power supply. BUT! It was useless, because with it the video signal was not working 🤦🏻
So when you are done with the power topic, the next party is the video signal. Many docking stations don’t really transmit the video when you use Linux. And many docking stations write 120Hz while at the end managing only 30Hz in the real world. And there is also the flickering and instability issues with some of the docking stations. It is sufficient to read some reviews under docking stations on Amazon to see that this problem exists. It is again a matter of the used controller for the video signal in the docking station (in combination with the controller for the connection to the Librem 5 in the docking station).
My Tipp. Grab the command for checking the negotiated power supply from the other topic.
Grab an old Phone Charger 5V 2A.
Do the test with your docking station.
It you only get 5V 0,5A, then consider returning the docking station if you are still in the window that allows return.
It is funny that the EU wants to enforce USB-C as a standard while at the same time USB-C can vary so much that the consumer might end up with a pile of USB-C devices and cables with mysterious compatibility between each other.
As and when the Librem 5 connected as host, over its USB-C port, to the compliant docking station we need to provide to it up to 15W (5V/3A). If and when negotiated less than 2.5W (as within docking station built-in pass-through charging controller just do not like to “talk” properly with your carefully chosen “most expensive” PD3.0 power supply with up to the 100W per USB-PD port).
Each USB-PD port, as shown below, might be usable … (but let us focus, please, on what needs to be ensured, for this topic purpose):
The limitation to 5V only can be disabled, but using higher voltages can cause issues due to possibility of shorting CC lines to Vbus. CC lines can take 5V, but not much more. We have a protection chip that should in theory mitigate that risk, but it turned out that with the TI USB-C controller we’re using there’s still a small risk of burning CC lines even despite of the protection chip being in place, so we decided to limit the input voltage to 5V to get rid of that risk altogether.
As long as your docking station works fine (including its monitor chip/output) nobody cares for real. Besides 9636 as manufacturer number is still not included within current http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids (therefore no related lsusb output, and I didn’t check this earlier):
apt list usb.ids
Listing... Done
usb.ids/now 2022.05.20-0+deb11u1 all [installed]
I’m slowly getting frustrated.
My new 5v 2a power supply also didn’t work with the hub:
My newly ordered usb c extension also doesn’t work:
It actually works for charging and also keyboard & mouse but no video signal at the vga output of my docking station. without using the extension video works. That sucks because the description states it does transmit video.
I will now buy another docking station.
Does somebody know a confirmed working usb c extension cable that works for all three things (and at the same time): charging, data and video?
🤦🏻
. Besides 